This invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for securing objects, particularly scallops, to a suitable backing material preferably an elongated strip.
The present invention is particularly related to scallop aquaculture. Scallop aquaculture is currently being carried out in several countries around the world. Scallops raised by aquaculture techniques generally profess through three distinct life phases namely, a free-swimming larval stage, an intermediate nursery and juvenile phase, and the final adult grow-out stage. The free-swimming larval stage terminates approximately one months after hatching when the scallops then settle on a solid matrix and begin the transformation into the juvenile stage, ultimately progressing into a more sedentary adulthood.
Scallop aquaculture can be effected by rearing the animals in a hatchery or by capture of wild seed. The animals may be held in cages until they are of sufficient size for release to a bottom habitat or alternatively suspended by a technique called ear-hanging during the grow-out stage.
Bottom culture of adult animals is no different from what occurs in the wild and requires many square kilometres of suitable bottom habitat. Because of security considerations and competitive factors this approach to scallop aquaculture is not feasible in many parts of the world including North America.
Ear-hanging has been practised for a number of years and is accomplished by drilling a small hole in the base of the shell from which the scallop is fastened to a buoyed line. Cage grow-out and ear-hanging are labour intensive and have generally proven to be uneconomic in areas where labour costs are high such as in North America.
The advantages of suspending juvenile scallops for the final grow-out period in seawater has been recognized for some time. Several years ago a number of Spaniards began harvesting under-sized animals from the wild which they then cemented to ropes. The ropes with cemented scallops were suspended in the seawater for further growth and the animals were harvested when prices PG,3 were suitably high. The technique used was relatively simple: the fiat bottom of one scallop was cemented to the more concave top of another scallop with a rope of undefined diameter between. The cement used required approximately two hours to set. The process of adhering the scallops to the ropes apparently involved a tedious and time consuming manual technique.
In the cases reported relating to suspended cultures of shellfish, enhanced growth rates were observed coupled with lower mortality rates. The suspended shellfish received better nutrition and were much less subject to attack by parasites and other disease-causing organisms.
Japanese Published Patent Application No. 165,735 published Dec. 24, 1980 of Hisaya Yamazaki et al and assigned to Takeda Chemical Industries et al discloses a technique for cultivating shell fish in water, the shell fish being adhered to a frame by a hydro-setting type liquid urethane resin. The material for the frame includes plastics, organic and inorganic fibres and other materials. The urethane resin is applied manually either to the frame or to the surface of the shell fish (preferably scallops). The frame with the adhered scallops is then placed in water for the final grow-out period.
Japanese Published Patent Application No. 186,926 published Jul. 23, 1990 invented by Yoshiaki Takeuchi et al and assigned in part to Daiabond Industries, Ltd. also discloses a technique for culturing pearls wherein the pearl oysters are adhered to a suspension belt which is suspended in the sea for the desired grow-out period. The patent notes a number of adhesives capable of reacting with moisture in the air so as to rapidly harden and adhere which may be chosen including cyanoacrylate adhesives, two-solution type or one-solution type urethane adhesives, epoxy adhesives, radical polymerization adhesives or hot-melt adhesives. In carrying out the technique, the adhesion points on the oyster shells are cleaned and adhesive is manually applied to the adhesion points following which the oysters are adhered to the suspension belt.
The above-noted prior art points out the need to provide means for quickly and accurately securing shellfish to a suitable backing for suspension in sea water thereby to avoid the time-consuming and costly manual techniques previously noted.